


If At First

by Lepidopteran (inarticulate)



Series: Friendverse [1]
Category: Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-03
Updated: 2010-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:34:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inarticulate/pseuds/Lepidopteran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ren wants to help Seto get his important people back, even if she doesn't quite understand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If At First

Ren squatted next to Seto, her arms resting on her knees and the cat toy dangling from her fingers. "Where should I dig?" she asked.

Seto didn't answer for a moment; he had his lower lip between his teeth and had that focused look he got when he pored over old books for hours on end. Ren rolled her eyes and poked him in the ribs. "Uwah! Ren, what?"

"I said," she repeated, batting the air in front of him with the cat toy, "where should I dig?" She grabbed the other rusty trowel from his open bag and waved it. "I'm not just going to sit here and watch you, that's _boring_. Why did you bring along two of these, anyway?"

He ducked his head and grinned sheepishly up at her. "I, ah, I thought in case one of them broke..."

"Where?" she demanded.

"...Anywhere," he said after a long moment. "I mean, there's a lump here, I think that's where I buried her, just... be careful? I don't want to damage her by accident."

Ren sighed and nodded. Seto had far more patience for things that weren't living than she did; he could sit there for hours sewing or reading or making sure the screws and wires were attached just right, while she preferred movement and noise and light. Just about the only thing she could stand to help him with for any length of time was welding, where she could watch the pattern of the sparks and feel the heat even through the shield. But this was important to Seto, so it was important to her.

The dirt was soft, here, and it moved easily under the trowel. She brushed the loose grit out of the way with her hands, savoring the cool, damp sensation against her skin. "What will you do when you find her?"

Seto made a soft noise, and Ren didn't look up for a moment because she thought maybe he was just answering her question. But then he made a choked sound like he was going to cry, and when she _did_ look up, she saw him holding a square contraption encrusted with dirt. "PF," he said, and then again, and he hugged it to his chest. "I'm so sorry."

Ren blinked and scooted closer to run her fingers over the thing. "It looks broken."

"She is." Seto smiled at her, wavery and watery, and he was definitely crying. Ren shifted uncomfortably and wiped her hands on her skirt. "It was right after I left Grandpa's house, and I thought... I'd never met a robot before."

Ren couldn't imagine that, really. She'd always been surrounded by robots and had sought out cats instead. Cats were warm and sweet and liked to play, while the robots in the lab just shuffled along blankly, so unlike Ren that she'd had nightmares about her limbs cracking and splitting and her skin peeling off to reveal the circuitry underneath. Seto, though, Seto had PF and Crow and so many stories about them that it had taken almost a year for Ren to figure out the connection between those two and his obsession with old lady Suzuki's robotics.

"Will she like me?" Ren asked instead. It didn't look like PF was going to be able to shuffle along blankly, not like Crow's body lying back in the hotel bed with Chiyo watching over him. Ren trailed her fingers over one of the protrusions and blinked when it revealed clear glass.

Seto wiped his eyes with his sleeve and grinned at Ren, full force. "She definitely will."


End file.
